Architects shortlisted for Strip rebuild

RARING TO GO: Developer Antony Gough supports revitalising the central city at Christchurch City Council planning hearings.

The developers behind a planned $40 million restaurant and bar precinct in central Christchurch have short-listed four architects to draw up plans for the riverfront development.

Antony Gough, whose family owns most of the Oxford Tce Strip and several adjacent properties, is determined to be the "first off the block" with a major central-city development and has given the short-listed architects until the middle of next month to come up with a scheme for rebuilding the earthquake-damaged area.

Gough said yesterday that he hoped to be able to lodge resource consent applications with the Christchurch Central Development Unit by the end of November so work could begin early next year.

The project would cost about $40m and would initially involve building bars and restaurants along Oxford Tce. The rest of the development, including retail outlets at the rear through to the City Mall, would be done in stages, depending on demand and cashflow.

Gough's planned hospitality precinct will be the central city's first since The Strip, SOL Square and Poplar St were destroyed in the February 2011 earthquake.